They discover how a type of leukemia reaches the brain

After more than a decade of research and many dead ends, we finally discovered how the cancer cells of acute lymphoblastic leukemia reach the brain. The discovery is of great importance as it opens a new path to the development of drugs that prevent its entry.

Acute lymphoblastic leukemia is a type of cancer usually affects children between 3 and 7 years of age being the most common leukemia in childhood. Once the disease reaches the brain, it becomes very difficult to treat, because the protective barrier of this organ (that the malignant cells manage to circumvent) protects it against both the dangers in the bloodstream and against many drugs [19659004]. Researchers at the Duke Cancer Institute in the United States have published their findings in the scientific journal Nature. There, they explain that leukemia finds its way into the central nervous system by avoiding the barrier that protects it without breaking it. It is the blood-brain barrier that stands as a well-guarded border.

To deceive migratory controls, cancer cells adhere, thanks to certain receptors that they possess, to certain proteins that lie outside the blood vessels, called laminins. In this way, they travel from the bone marrow, go unnoticed in the barrier and reach the cerebrospinal fluid.

"There are small blood vessels that pbad directly through the vertebrae to the tissue of the meninges which covers the spinal cord and the brain.The cells of this type of cancer s & # 39; They attach to the laminin that surrounds these vessels and compress themselves in the region of the meninges, where the cerebrospinal fluid circulates, "explains the article.

The main author of the book , Dorothy Sipkins, said in a statement from the Institute that "everything made sense with what we see in patients : anatomy, the molecular mechanisms. It was very exciting to see it, although the way cancer cells enter was very unexpected . "

The team of scientists is also working on a drug ." The incidence of disease symptoms in the central nervous system of rodents treated decreased between three and six times compared to the group of animals without pharmacological treatment, "said the specialist.However, he warns that" the experimental drug could have a therapeutic benefit, but requires further study. "

" Understanding how acute lymphoblastic leukemia gets into the central nervous system is arming us with new approaches to avoid or treat this badignment and, fortunately, closes this entry ", he concluded.